Tuesday, 24 November 2009

• Passion

  "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?  Is it not this that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have so you fight and quarrel.  You do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 

  You adulterous people!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself and enemy of God.  Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the Spirit that he has made to dwell in us"?  But he gives more grace. 

  Therefore it says "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be wretched and mourn and weep.  Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you." (James 4:1-10).

  Passion; it is a powerful thing.  Passion rules people and steers them in the direction they will go.  Once it takes root in the flesh, the mind, and the heart, it grows into a vast beast- it’s claws sunk deep into our being.  Passion is shown in the priority given to it.  I think it’s probably not necessary for me to say that if I said I was passionate about the Kansas City Royals baseball team, and then I couldn’t tell who the pitcher, coach, and other players are, then it would be evident that I’m in fact not passionate about the Royals (and I’m not).

  Sometimes two passions can conflict with one another; in fact, if the N.O. Saints go to the Super-bowl along with the Indianapolis Colts, then two teams that I love will be conflicting with one another and picking a team is going to be a nightmare; ok, maybe that is a little bit exaggerated because I will be preaching that Sunday anyway, so I’ll miss half of the Super bowl regardless—but I will still have a vested interest in who wins (especially if it ends up being those two teams).

  There is a defining characteristic about passion; it is a uniting factor between friends and people with shared passions.  Businesses rely on this, actually- especially during football season.  For instance, Buffalo Wild Wings purchases high-quality HD-TVs (the big’ns) to attract as many football-n-beer fans as they can, and they’re very successful.  These friendships that form between people (through means of shared passion) are particularly strong and often long-lasting.

  "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?  Is it not this that your passions are at war within you? You adulterous people!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself and enemy of God.” (James 4:1-10)

  No doubt you’ve witnessed firsthand a Church fight, and I’m certain that you’ve probably read something on the topic of Church unity here on Revelife.  In fact, recently, in a post on the main page (I forgot the name) I read about a Church that was arguing over where the Christmas tree would be on stage, and something about how the Choir was going to perform. 

  I’m sure by now, if you read my posts, you know that I’ve developed quite a disdain for bickering and arguments within the Church.  But this post is not going to be focused on that- it is focused on the source of these arguments; and I think identifying the source will help people to identify the cure.     

  Even way back with James quarrels were starting to jump to life.  He gives the answer to his question; they’re caused by warring passions.  The Colts and the Saints at the Super bowl; which one do you chose? 

  Unfortunately, when it comes to some passions, there are some that cannot peacefully coexist with one another.  James describes the kinds of passions that cannot coexist together within a person; God and the World, for instance, cannot peacefully reside within someone.  It is precisely the passions that give us friendship with the world are the kinds of passions that make us enemies with God.  Likewise, the passions of the Spirit cause the world to hate us.

  This is most easily recognized in a conflict between two Church members; one says that he wants some thing to be a certain way; he says he knows best and makes a persuasive argument.  Someone else, however, says that they have a better way and an equally appealing argument.  Fill in the details of this scenario for yourself; I’m sure you have witnessed enough to get the picture.  Someone has put their pride at stake, and another is challenging it. 

  Although, in my experience thus far in the ministry, Pride is certainly one of the biggest worldly passions that cause conflicts between Christians, there certainly are a multitude of other passions that cause problems for the believer.  They can range from money-love, to something as simple as taking off early Sunday morning to go golfing instead of going to Church. 

  "The eye is the lamp of the body.  So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!  No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other..." (Matthew 6:22-24)

  What is filling your eye?  Does that new house that is just a little bit bigger than you need consuming your thoughts?  What about that new green car that gets 45 mpg and comes in red?  Its only 10 grand more than you can afford!  Is it, instead, Christ that fills up your eyes? 

  Perhaps you fit into the majority of Christians; both Christ and the new house (or whatever it may be) are filling your eyes.  You’re, without a doubt, experiencing a conflict, then, within yourself.  You are beginning to find out that it is increasingly more difficult to accomplish both the purity and devotion that Christ calls his believers too and indulge in all the affairs of the world that will get you that new house. 

  At this point you will be forced between three choices.

  1.      Make the decision (conscious or subconscious) to set aside Christ and go after that house- whatever it may be.  This will, probably, immediately relieve the conflicts that are existing inside you.

  2.      You may decide to believe the great lie of this generation; that both Christ and your other worldly passions may peacefully and successfully coexist together inside you.  This will require, of course, relegating some of the Words of Christ to the backburner… perhaps even all-out cutting from memory.

  3.      Opposite to choice number 1 is that you may decide to accept the words that James spoke in the passage at the beginning of this post and purify (remove) yourself from those passions that befriend you with the World, and cause enmity between you and God. 

  I believe James was quite clear enough regarding what options # 1 & 2 yield; enmity with God.  I’ve written, and others have written a plethora of posts regarding the consequences of these two options; indeed these are worthy posts and very much needed. 

  However I think that option number 3 needs to be considered for a moment. 

  What if you have been living between these conflicting passions and you want to get out?  What do you need to do?

  There is a warning followed by instruction that we need to listen to;

  “--Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the Spirit that he has made to dwell in us’? 
  --But he gives more grace.  Therefore it says ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’.
  --Submit yourselves therefore to God. 
  --Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. 
  --Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. 
   --Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 
  --Be wretched and mourn and weep.  Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 
   --Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you."

  (James 4:1-10)

  It was for good reason that James exclaimed “You adulterous people!” I will not lie, in the near 2,000 years since this James made this statement, we have not progressed much. 

  The warning that we’re given is the jealousy that God has for his Holy Spirit which he has made to dwell within us.  If we allow our passions to be overtaken by the passions of this world, then Gods Spirit—the seal of our salvation—will not be made to stay in us!  Just thinking about this brings upon me great grief!! To have the Spirit taken from me?!  I’ve prayed before, and I pray again;

  Father, take me from this world before you take your spirit from me!

  But Praise be to God!  For he gives more grace unto us! “humble thyself before God, and he will lift you up”.  Humble yourself.  God is opposed to the Passion of Pride.  But to the humble and the meek he gives grace and peace.  For this reason, if you desire the passion of the Father, submit yourself to God! 

  Conversely and equally related; resist the Devil.  If you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, and you desire the passions of Christ, then resist him and by the strength of God, he will flee from you.  Do not be deceived, he may return to strike again, and again, and again…. But by the mercy, grace, love, and strength of God, you may resist him again and again he will flee. 

  If you have done this, draw near to God.  Everyone will tire out at some point in their life.  You will, no matter how strong you are, meet the end of your strength.  Draw near to God and He will be with you.  He will draw near to you and be your strength.

  Cleanse yourself by the blood of Christ! 

  You know, I struggled with this for so long in my life; I just knew that there had to be something more to do to cleanse myself before God.  What ceremony must I perform? 

  "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;” (Acts 3:19)

  You have just to repent and the times of refreshing will come from the Lord.  You will be cleansed from your sins.  This is not to provide you with a “slate” that you can purposefully rack up sins on and then ask Jesus to wipe it clean so you can start all over again; I sincerely pray “MAY IT NEVER BE”!  We do not sin so that Gods grace might abound!  His grace abounds so that we could be free to learn to sin less. 

  Therefore, Repent!  Be refreshed!

  The Word of God will pierce your heart—do not fight its conviction!  Mourn and weep! 

  You know, something that I have been told is that the Chinese Church looks down on the American Christians because they say we are too casual; we are always laughing about things.  Essentially they think we do not know seriousness.  To an extent, they are correct; although I do not condone the same flaw in them that exists within us—that they exalt themselves by pointing out another Church’s weakness. 

  Do not prove them right!  Turn our laughter into mourning so that we can properly mourn our sins! 

  If someone came to you, seeking forgiveness of an offense, and they were laughing, would you take them seriously?

  Humble yourself before the Lord and he will exalt you.

  I hope for a moment you will examine the passions that manifest themselves in your life—they are apparent.  Others looking in know who you are; the question is, do you? 

  Chose your passion.

   

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